Medical appliance



Aug. 31, 1954 W. V. SLAVIN MEDICAL APPLIANCE Filed March 7, 1951 Patented Aug. 31, 1954 OFFICIEI 1 MEDIGAL APPIJANGE v W lliam v. Slavin, naemia. {Application March 1, 1951, Serial No. 214,401

lemm o1.12s z70 My invention relates to a medical appliance, and relates particularly to a medical appliance used for gynaecological, medical and similar purposes. i

. In the past, it has been customary to use tampons, paekings, or dressings in the treatment, of

diseases of the vagina, but these devices did not smooth out the striated. foldsv oi the vaginal wall and were difficult to keep: in place andconsequently, even though ample medication was used, there were some latent or hidden germs or oranisms which were not reachedand after the disease had apparently been remedied, the, or

ganisms or germs embedded the striated folds of the vagina multiplied very rapidly due to the ideal culture and growth media of the vagina to produce a secondaryinfection.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a medical appliance which will smooth out the striated folds of the vaginal wall when the vagina is being treated for vaginitis, ftrichomonis, or other vaginal disease to facilitate healing and prevent secondary infection.

Anotherobject of my invention is to provide a medical appliance which may utilize a medicament such as gentian violet, sulfa drug, penicillin, aureomycin, streptomycin, tyrothrycin, terramycin, and other such drugs either alone or in combination with each other in the form of a powder, pellet, paste or liquid, while smoothing out the vaginal wall so that the medicament may be evenly and thoroughly applied to the entire vaginal wall.

Another object of my invention is to provide a medical appliance to bring a, medicament in direct contact with an affected part of the body.

Another object of my invention is to provide a medical appliance which may be reused after cleansing.

Other objects of my invention are to provide a medical appliance which is easily and economically produced, which is sturdy in construction, and which is highly effective in use.

With the above and related objects in view, my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying,

drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a medical appliance embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a medical appliance embodying my invention.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is aperspective view'of another medical appliance embodying myzinvention. Referring now in greater detail to the drawing I show a medical. appliance, generally designated as A, having apocket; generally designated ash, in its interior for holding a medicament.

The medical appliance A illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is a spongetl of resilient, porous material such as cellulose, natural rubber, sponge, foam rubber, or other synthetic: material. The medical appliance A is of continuous cylindrical shape and has a continuous side wall 10' defined by a pair of parallel ends I2, and It. A slot or slit I6 in the wall 10- extends downwardly into the interior of the appliance A and forms a pocket B which is utilized to hold a pledget it of cotton, lambs wool, or a synthetic material which absorb or hold. a powder, liquid, pasteorpellet medicament such as gentian violet, sulfa drug, penicillin, aureomycin streptomycin, tyrothrycin, terramycin, or other drug. As the normal secretions. of the vagina are: exudated, thesesecretions will come in contact with. themedicament and liberate the therapeutic efiectof the medicament where needed. A i i 'Ihecharacteristicof the sponge isto retain its resiliency and shape when moistened by normal or abnormal exudations.

It should be kept in mind that the medicament may be placed on the outside of the appliance A as well as in the pocket B to increase the therapeutic action of the medicament, thereby speeding up the healing processes.

The medicament used with my invention may be any of the well-known medicines of a germicidal or antibiotic nature.

In Fig. 4, I show another embodiment of my invention wherein the medical appliance Al is made of a resilient, porous material such as cellulose, natural rubber, sponge, foam rubber, or other synthetic material in the form of a rectangular plinth defined by a pair of parallel sides 20 and 22 and a pair of parallel ends 24 and 26. The rectangular plinth Al is provided with a slot 28 which extends into the interior of the plinth so that a pledget of cotton (not shown) carrying a medicament thereon or absorbed therein may be held in the interior of the plinth Al. The medicament may also be placed on the outer surface of the appliance Al as well as in the slot 28 of the medical appliance Al for the same reasons hereinbefore mentioned. This embodiment of my invention may be utilized to hold a medicament to the outer walls of a limb or other part of the body in treating abrasions, in-

cal appliance may take any configuration de-.-. y pending upon the contour of the part of the body vagina.

which is to be treated with a medicament. It is also important to keep in mind that my invention need not be thrown away after treatment as with the prior art devices, but may be cleansed and used again.

sponge-like material is adapted to receive and "hold someof the said medicament on its outer This device or sponget may be cylindrical, oval, I

round, or any shape necessary to apply pressure tosmoothn any folds, so that'the medication will come in contact with affected areas.

This device may be of various shapes with or without a slit or a pocket. The medication may be applied to the outer surface of sponget only so that it is Within the pores of the sponget.

The medication used in s-ponget may be tyrothricin, sulfathiazole, sulfadiazine, and sulfamerazine. Another combination of drugs to be used may be tyrothricin, hexylresorcinal and iodine. Another combination of chemicals to be used may be tyrothricin, aluminum chloride, tertiary alcohols. Any combination of or any individual antibiotic, antiseptic, or sulfa drug; any sulfa drug may be replaced by a different sulfa drug, or likewise the tyrothrycin may be replaced by any other antibiotic. A hexylresorcinal, metaphen or merthiolate may replace the antibiotics or the sulfa drugs either or both; either in an aqueous, oil, or alcoholic solution, and in instances where desired, the medicaments may be applied to sponget in ointment or cream bases.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is merely 1 intended to be illustrative rather than limiting,

as my invention may be variously embodied and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A medical appliance comprising a spongelike material of cylindrical continuous configuration, a pocket located in the interior of said sponge-like material, a slot in said sponge-like material to give access to said pocket, and a pledget of absorbent material in said pocket adapted to hold a medicament.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said sponge-like material is resilient enough to smooth the striated folds in the wall of the vagina when said appliance is inserted therein whereby said medicament may contact the entire wall of said 3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said surface whereby the healing processes of the body are accelerated.

4. A medical appliance comprising a spongelike material of barrel-like configuration adapted to be inserted into the vagina whereby the striated folds of said vagina are smoothed out, a medicament; a pocket within the interior of said sponge-like material to hold said medicament, and a slit extending into said sponge-like material adapted to enable said medicament to be placed within said pocket, said sponge-like material being adapted to receive and hold a quantity of said medicament on its outer surface,

said sponge having the characteristic to release said medicament and to retain its resiliency and shape when moistened by normal or abnormal exudations in the vagina.

References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 706,778 Pond Aug. 12, 1902 1,401,358 Peterkin Dec. 27, 1921 1,732,413 Motteram Oct. 22, 1929 1,748,406 Blair Feb. 25, 1930 2,218,738 Boysen Oct. 22, 1940 2,386,590 Calhoun Oct. 9, 1945 

